Ingredients

•2 packets of pre rolled puff pastry
•1.5lbs feather steak in really big chunks
•1 medium sized black pudding ring
•2 carrots, peeled and cut into rounds
•2 celery stalks, finely sliced
•2 golden onions, peeled and quartered
•2 bay leaves
•1.5 cans of Guinness
•2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
•2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
•Lots of black pepper and sea salt
•One egg, whisked
•3 tablespoons cornflour, made up with some cold water

Serves

4

Method

The Kitchen Alchemist

  1. Remove one of the pastry rolls from the fridge.
  2. Put the beef, Guinness, carrots, onion, celery, bay, sugar, Worcester sauce and pepper into slow cooker, cook on a medium heat for around 3 hours – or until the meat is tender.
  3. Once the slow cooker has been on for an hour, roll out the puff pastry into a pie dish about 2-3mm thick. Drape it into the dish and gently push it to the edges. Leave some pastry hanging over the edge of the pie dish as it will shrink when cooked, place in fridge for a couple of hours.
  4. Strain the slow cooker contents through a colander once ready, catching the juices – put the juices on the hob on a medium heat and bring to the simmer for around 10 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste. Remove the onions and bay leaves from the colander and discard.
  5. Preheat your oven to 200°C and take the other pastry roll out of the fridge.
  6. Gradually pour the corn flour mix into the juices on the hob and stir thoroughly, do this gradually until you’re happy with the thickness.
  7. Cook the juices for around 5 minutes then add the steak, carrots, celery and diced black pudding to the pan, turn off the heat and leave to settle.
  8. Take the pie dish from the fridge and put some baking paper in it, weighed down with baking beads or dry rice, then bake for 10 minutes.
  9. Remove from the oven and slice the excess pastry off that is now hanging over.
  10. Take out the baking beads or rice and put the dish back into the oven for 4 minutes.
  11. Remove from the oven, leave it a couple of minutes to settle a little, then carefully using the back of a wooden spoon, press the base of the dish back down.
  12. Carefully ladle the pie contents into the dish now, filling it to about 2cm below the top.
  13. Take your pastry and roll it to around the same thickness as before 2-3mm, baste the pastry edges of the dish that has been cooked with the whisked egg, and then drape the rolled out pastry over the top, gently press the edges down with your fingers so they’re firmly connected, and remove the excess pastry. Now carefully score a cross pattern over the pastry, being careful not to pierce it, before cutting a hole in the centre for the steam to escape, and brushing it with the beaten egg mix.
  14. Pop it into the oven for around 40 minutes, until the pastry is a deep golden brown and when you spear the centre, the knife comes out hot.
  15. Serve with your favourite vegetables.